Dear Parents,

Next week many communities around Australia, including our Campbelltown community, will celebrate NAIDOC Week. The week of celebration provides an opportunity for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians to join together to recognise the valuable contribution Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make to the Australian community. The 2019 National NAIDOC theme is ‘Voice, Treaty, Truth.’ Let’s work together for a shared truth. The reforms set out in the Uluru Statement from the Heart can be expressed in three key goals: Voice – Treaty - Truth. NAIDOC Week 2019 takes inspiration from these three aims, which represent the hopes and dreams of First Nations Australians. During NAIDOC, we remember in our thoughts and prayers the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of our country and celebrate their rich cultures and inspiring contributions to Australia. I encourage families to join in the various festivities and celebrations, which will be held throughout the week. The following link will provide details of celebrations to be held in the Campbelltown area.

https://www.campbelltown.nsw.gov.au/WhatsOn/NAIDOCWeek2019

SACRED HEART AWARD
On behalf of the school community I would like to congratulate Liam S, Year 6 student, for being awarded the Sacred Heart Award for 2019. As stated in last week’s newsletter, this award is a longstanding tradition at Mary Immaculate, which was initiated by a former Principal, Mrs Marie Debusch (RIP). Congratulations Liam.

NETBALL GALA DAY 

Last Thursday 88 children represented our school at the Western Region Netball Gala Day. Thanks  to Mrs Boss and Mrs Botth for supervising the teams on the day. Thank you to those parents who volunteered to manage the teams. Without the support of so many parents we would not be able to have as many children participate as we do.  

P & F DISCO
The P & F Disco last Friday evening was a great event for those children who were able to attend. Thank you to the organising committee and to our DJ’s, Mr and Mrs Hodge, for supplying the music and equipment.

HAIR STYLES
During the holidays children will undoubtedly have haircuts etc in preparation for the Term ahead. I have recently noticed a number of boys with very long hair on top of their heads and quite short or shaved backs of their heads. A reminder to parents that hairstyles for the School Term should be one‟s which do not attract attention. Shaved indents etc are not permitted. Hair for both boys and girls should be neat, tidy and of natural colour. Girls hair that is longer than shoulder length needs to be tied back.

THANK YOU
As this is the final newsletter for Term 2, I would like to again acknowledge the students for their efforts with their learning and the contributions they make toward the happy and positive atmosphere that exists at Mary Immaculate. I trust that the Parent Teacher Interviews, which many parents have already attended, enable you to also see the effort being made by your children. I am extremely grateful to all staff for their educational skills and their commitment to our children. I also thank you, the parents, for the support you show our school in so many ways. I hope that over the school holiday period you get opportunities to spend more time with your children and we look forward to seeing them refreshed and ready to return for Term 3 on Monday 22 July.

Have a great week and let Christ be our way and life.

Don Spencer

Principal

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

At Mary Immaculate the staff has an ongoing commitment to professional learning. The staff benefit from attending inservices, in curriculum areas, that assists them in providing quality learning opportunities for the students in their class. The following staff have or will attend professional learning and hence will be away from school.

CAR PARK - ROAD SAFETY

A reminder to parents that during school hours parking in the church car park is restricted to staff, parishioners who attend the 9.00am morning mass, and school deliveries. I ask parents to refrain from entering the car park-park to drop off and pick up their children. Please be aware that the speed limit around our school is 50kph, and 40kph during the morning and afternoon school zone hours. Please also be aware of the various parking restrictions around the school and do not park across private driveways. As always the safety of our children is paramount.

STAGE 1 SCIENCE FAIR

On Tuesday 2 July, Stage One students participated in a Science Fair. All students had the opportunity to engage in a range of fun and engaging STEM activities throughout the day. They used and applied their scientific understanding in all activities. Our junior scientists had a super fun day! A massive thank you to Coles at Camden, and Woolworths at Market Fair, Gregory Hills and Eagle Vale for their generous donations and sponsoring the day.

Kind regards,

Miss Ally Carter,

Year 2 Blue teacher. 

THE WORST FEELING EVER

PARENTING IDEAS – MICHAEL GROSE

 Humans are social by nature. We are happiest and most productive when we’re in groups. The family we are born into stays together rather than disbands as can happen in the animal world. This togetherness ensures a sense of belonging. Parental acceptance and forgiveness confirms that a child belongs unconditionally to their family providing a deep sense of security and safety.

As he grows older their social world expands to include broader family, friends and others within our community. The ties that bind are a little more tenuous at the outer edges of their social circle. Unlike in a family acceptance a child’s or teen’s acceptance by peers is conditional and, as such, friendships can quickly change. Differing interests, unresolved grievances and changing personalities can lead to peer relationship breakdowns, resulting in feelings of loss and sadness for a child.

The flip side of acceptance is loss, when valued relationships flounder. This is normal. It can be heart-breaking for a parent to watch your child or teen deal with the feelings of sadness, but that’s when parents need to be supportive and emotionally present.

Worse still for children and young people is when a relationship breakdown with friends leads to ostracism, or being left out of the usual group activities. Sadness due to friendship loss is a normal part of life. Feeling devastated by being left out of a group, is not acceptable, and shouldn’t be shrugged off as normal.

Ostracism hits at the very heart of being human – the need to belong. It hits at a young person’s sense of security and safety. Continued ostracism generally leads to feelings of helplessness in a child or young person – the worst possible emotion they can experience.

Teaching kids about relationships

Psychologist and author Collett Smart in her Teach girls to build each other up webinar maintains that parents should pro actively teach kids about how relationships work. She was referring to parents of girls in particular, but boys too can benefit from learning about the nature of friendships. This relationship work can be both incidental and intentional. Smart maintains that we need to be continuously talking to kids about what makes a good friend; that not all friendships last; how they can break up kindly with friends and how they can assertively and respectfully stand up for themselves rather than be dominated by others.

Learning how to argue well

Smart maintains that learning how to argue is a normal part of healthy relationships. She says, “We haven’t taught girls how to be assertive. They learn to be assertive at home. Give girls opportunities to disagree with us as parents so that they can be brave enough for them to do so outside of home with their friends.” Parents need to give kids healthy ways to express their emotions and frustrations about friendships so that they can learn to resolve conflict without taunting, being abusive or giving someone the ‘permanent cold shoulder’.

Above all, we need to let kids know that ostracism of a former friend or of another child is not acceptable under any circumstances. The conversation that parents have with children about ostracism carries a great deal of weight and needs to happen from a very young age before these relationships patterns emerge and become entrenched in adolescence.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAY - PUPIL FREE DAY TERM 3

The staff of Mary Immaculate will be attending an overnight retreat in Mittagong from Thursday evening 25 July until Friday afternoon 26 July 2019. The children will not be required to attend school on Friday 26 July (Friday Week 1 Term 3)

Happy Birthday to the following children who will be celebrating a birthday this week and Week 1 next Term:

Harrison C, Ella C, Mateialona P, Noah G and Mason J

Happy Birthday to the following children who are lucky enough to celebrate their birthday in the School Holidays:

Yar M, Julianne M,  Chloe K, Tristan B, Jack B, Wililam M, Jaime S, Sophia C, Aiden C, Emily F, Adam A, MJ T, Heaven C, Lucas G, Emily G and Damian W, Nicola W and Darnell F.

Congratulations to the following children who have won a Morning Tea with the Principal:

Madison T 1 Gold, Denzel T 2 Gold and Paula M 3 Green

Congratulations to 4 Gold, the only class who earned a Gold Star last week – well done. Hopefully many classes will receive a Gold Star this week, remembering to return all Library books for the Term. There are still nearly 300 overdue books from students – please look carefully under beds, behind desks and shelves, in secret spaces….

Even though we are not borrowing this week we still need to read every day – checkout your books at home, or visit Campbelltown or Eagle Vale Libraries. They have a wonderful selection of books, and the PRC books are specially marked for easy identification.

Premiers' Reading Challenge: We now have over 20 students who have already completed the challenge, and nearly 200 who have logged in and registered their books read so far. There are only EIGHT (8) weeks left to complete the challenge, so see how much you can do during the holidays. Holidays are a great time to catch up with some extra reading, especially at this time of the year when it’s cold outside.

https://products.schools.nsw.edu.au/prc/booklist/home.html

Remember Kinder – Year 2 must read 30 books, and Years 3 - 6 must read 20, with only 5 Personal Choice books allowed. If you are reading books from a series you can only count 2 towards your Challenge, any extra will be counted as Choice books, even if they are on the PRC list.

Enjoy the holidays, a great time to curl up with a book!!

The Premiers' Reading Challenge aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students, and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely.

Happy reading!

Mrs Sue Bryant, Teacher Librarian

Congratulations to Liam S who received the Sacred Heart Award! I have shared part of the speech with you that was presented on Friday during mass. What a deserving recipient!

 In today’s world it is very easy to think of ourselves and not worry about others, but this person is a deep thinker who goes out of their way to accommodate the needs of others.  On many occasions this person has reached out to classmates, helped with school work or by maintaining a calm, peaceful atmosphere when acting as a referee for a younger grade at lunchtimes.  In the words of Mary MacKillop this person "sees a need and does something about it".

 Mrs Neilsen’s Year Two class have shown an in depth understanding of Jesus’ love for us!

You are invited to Year One’s Grade Liturgy this week on Thursday 4 July 2019 at 9.45 am

Look at what they have been learning!

Kirsty Simpson

Religious Education Co-Ordinator